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The use of Cellular Phones: To ban or not to ban in the classroom?

Bernardina Everilda Tush

University of Belize
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The use of Cellular Phones: To ban or not to ban in the classroom?

There are days that he is very energetic and then there are days that he battles with high

fever and tiredness, yet he pushes to make his way to school. Being a person who was diagnosed

with sickle cell anemia from the tender age of three and a half years, Michael has had some

pretty rough days throughout his life. From pre-school to primary school and later high school,

he has had to be sent home from school because he was not feeling well in class. The older he

grew, the more his mother saw the need for him to carry around a cellular phone. That was one

tool that would be beneficial to him, not only to make phone calls in cases of emergencies, but as

a tool to assist him with his school work. However, in Belize, schools especially high schools,

have become very strict with the use of cellular phones on campus, much less in classroom.

School administrators should reconsider this position as we are in modern times where smart

phones are more equipped to aide in the classroom. Therefore, cellular phones should be allowed

in the classroom.

The use of cellular phones has come a long way since its invention in the 1980’s and is now

considered as an unavoidable device. Shanti and Babu (2013) concurred that cellular phones

were used earlier for a sign of status. However, it has now become a necessity for the day to day

life and can be used by everyone. Cellular phones are a major influence in the way society

communicate on a daily basis, and has now become a part of culture for many people around the

world. Nonetheless, according to Ling (2013), the impact of cell phones has highly affected our

society, people’s safety, availability and security. It can be safe to say that today, most people are

addicted to their cell phones. I can attest to this based on high school experiences whereby, a few
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students would follow the rules and leave their cell phones in the office, while, a large amount

would rather sneak their cell phones into the classroom causing multiple distractions. These

devices are considered to be a distraction to many in the classroom. While that still remains true,

some educators have slowly found out that these devices can also be used in positive ways, and

can be turned into learning tools. In general, they can have multiple benefits inside the classroom

setting.

Safety and security of children during school hours are major concerns for most if not all parents.

A study done in 2006 for the National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision in

the United States showed of the parents who were polled: 99% want to be able to contact their

children and have their children contact them via cell phone in an emergency. Also, 99% want

their children to be able to contact them by cell phone if an unsafe situation arises on the way

home to or from school. Furthermore, 84% want cell phone contact between themselves and their

children during school hours if there are changes in schedules. The survey points out that 71%

say their children need cell phone at school because school administrators won’t allow them to

use the office phone except in cases of illness or emergency (Mullen, 2006). Students who have

access to these cellular devices in the classroom setting would be able to contact their parents in

cases of an emergency or change of schedules. In the event of an emergency, timely

communication using a cell phone present a practical need to have access to in the classroom.

Students would be able to immediately contact a family member, whether the incident may be on

or off campus, instead of wasting time by trying to borrow someone else’s cell, or going to the

office to use the main phone. Another concern is that most students travel from home to school

on a bus or walking alone, which may be a bit risky especially with the way things are going in

this day and age. It is only natural that parents will be concerned about their children’s
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whereabouts and may feel the urge to give them a phone to take along with them just to keep in

touch. Furthermore, there are other beneficial use to have access to a cell phone at school.

In the event of an emergency, timely communication using cell phones presents a viable need to

possess and use the device in the classroom. However, misuse of cell phone technology

including text messaging, sexting, and receiving and making calls during class time represent

distractions for peers and faculty (Campbell, 2006; Milne, 2005). Therefore, it is important that

students understand the proper use of cell phones and they must be disciplined in the ways in

which they use their cell phone at school.

In addition, cell phones have many other tools and applications that can be used in a classroom

setting such as calculators, stopwatches, dictionaries, search engines and recorder, etc.

Cellphones are devices that probably every student possesses. They may not have tablets, or

computers, but indubitably they have smartphones. According to Freeman (2012), smartphones

help to bridge the gap of the still existing digital divide. Smartphones serve as the easiest and

most inexpensive way to connect to the internet. This allows students to have access to

information as well as the ability to easily communicate with others. This has been shown to

provide a better classroom (Freeman, 2012). Teachers will be working with a group of

individuals that is already accustomed to using their phones to perform different tasks. They are

very knowledgeable of its features and how to use them whether on or offline. Teachers will save

plenty of time since they won’t be required to do extra lessons on how to use this device. They

will be able to move quickly into their lessons instead of having to introduce new tools to the

students and train on how to use this device and so this can be a valuable tool to both teachers

and students.
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Despite the fact that cell phones or smart phones can be used positively and constructively to

enhance learning, the same device can be utilized negatively. While most students would use

their cell phone in a positive way, there are those students who use it to be mischievous.

According to Smith, Madsen & Moody (1999) in recent years bullying through electronics

means, specifically mobile phones or the internet, has emerged, often collectively labelled

‘cyberbullying’. Cyberbullying has clearly diversified beyond bullying by test messages or

emails. Recent reports show that bullying that involve mobile phones are done via phone calls,

text messages, pictures, video clips etc., that result in mass circulation. Here in Belize, often

times we see videos of students fighting or being set-up to fight posted on social media. There

are even those sexually explicit videos of young students being circulating around which often

leads to cyberbullying. Some students end up having a hard time dealing with those types of

situations and this has led or can lead to a student committing suicide. This is a major downfall

of the use of cellular phones.

Lastly, having access to these devices in the classroom setting will allow students to have the

advantage of videotaping, recording or taking pictures of a classroom session for later review.

Teachers should consider the use of technology in the classroom along with their traditional

pedagogy because such current tools can change the classroom environment and allow

instructionto become more aligned with the extracurricular interests of the learners (Ahmadi &

Reza, 2018). Furthermore, students are technologically advance in using social networks such as

Facebook, YouTube, Google, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp. These can be turned into useful

tools that can connect and increase interactions between students and teachers, changing the way

that they think and learn. Educators can take these initiatives into consideration, integrating these
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resources into their classroom settings and resulting in meaningful benefits in the way students

learn. With this type of learning environment in place, the student will still be able to learn

whatever lesson has been taught, without having much interruption in the classroom. They will

have the opportunity to play back the audio or video, and review the pictures taken, to get a

better understanding of the concept being explained by their educator. This can also eliminate

having to inconvenient the rest of the class because of those who learn at a slower pace.

 While some students are responsible enough to use their cell phone as an aide to enhance their

learning, there are those who will take advantage and use it for the complete opposite. Educator

are therefore, skeptical and disagree that mobile devices should be allowed in the classroom as

they are more concerned about the distraction caused by said devices. Students may spend time

texting, surfing websites or chatting online with other friends, which means that they are not

paying attention in class (Tindell & Bohlander, 2012). Another concern relates to test cheating as

the technology available through cell phones allows a student to send answers to another. Also,

recordings, audios and photos taken of the session, may be a waste of time as some may have no

interest in reviewing them.

In conclusion, there are many benefits that can be enjoyed through the use of cell phones in the

classrooms. Though many may see it as a distraction, there’s much more use for a cellular phone

than just texting and calling. They have become an in-dispensable multi-tool wonder that provide

several avenues by which students are able to benefit when attempting to use them in the

classroom. In fact, there are as many benefits to teachers as they are to students. Administrations

at these different educational institutions should rethink this whole matter and compromise by

not only permitting the use of this device in the classrooms, but make it a requirement. This is
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because even though cellular phones are not allowed on campus, students still bring them to

school and use them for the wrong purposes. However, these gadgets can still be used in the

classroom for more constructive reasons. Therefore, I strongly believe that students should be

allowed to use cellular phones in the classroom.

References

Ahmadi, D. M. R., & Reza, M. (2018). The use of technology in English language learning: A

literature review. International Journal of Research in English Education, 3(2), 115-125.

Burns, Shari M., and Kevin Lohenry. "Cellular phone use in class: implications for teaching and

learning a pilot study." College Student Journal, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, p. 805+. Accessed 20 Nov.

2020.
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Campbell, S. W. (2006). Perception of Mobile Phones in College Classrooms: Ringing, Cheating

and Classroom Policies.

Freeman, K. (2012). Low Income Students Test Scores leap 30% with Smart Phone use.

Marshable U.S. & World. Retrieved from

http://mashable.com/2012/10/15/wireless.reachstudents/on November 14 2012

Levine, L. E., Waite, B. M., & Bowman, L.L. (2012). Moblibe Use, Multitasking and

Distractibility. International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning.

Ling, R. (2003). Fashion and Vulgarity in the Adoption of Mobile Telephone among Teens in

Norway.

Shanti, S., & Babu, R.P. (2013). Cell Phone in the Hands of Students – Boon or to Ban.

International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), 2 (4). 216-223

Smith, P.K., Madsen, K., & Moody, J. (1999). What causes the age decline in reports of being

bullied in school? Towards a developmental analysis of risks of being bullied. Educational

Research, 41, 267– 285.